El Chorro Regional Park Campground

For many years, my husband Garth and I have traveled the western states in our little 24-foot motorhome, along with our golden retriever Chase (and occasionally our cat!). In this and subsequent RVCYOB articles, I’ll share with you our experiences, our opinions on the best campsites to reserve, clever camping gear and gizmos, tried-and-true hacks, secret hikes, camp recipes, camping with pets and kids, things to avoid, and things you won’t want to miss. I hope you’ll enjoy traveling with us.

Please don’t make our mistake of underestimating this campground. For decades, we’d driven right past El Chorro Park without the least bit of interest in camping there. Our loss.

El Chorro is located on Highway 1 between Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo, across from Cuesta College. For all those years, as we sped by on the highway at 65 mph (okay, maybe more like 75), all we saw was a dry, open grassy campground that looked rather unappealing to us. It was nearly always empty.

We visited the park often for Garth’s softball games or to go to the dog park or the Botanical Garden. Honestly, the campground part didn’t look any more inviting close-up as we cruised through the park at 5 mph (okay, maybe 25 if Garth was late for his game).

Then one year, my sister and husband visited from Oregon with their big fifth-wheel RV. They got a reservation at El Chorro because it was conveniently located halfway between us in Cayucos and her son in San Luis Obispo. When they asked us to join them camping, we shrugged and said,  “Sure, why not?” We’re forever grateful they dragged us to El Chorro.

Since then, we’ve camped at El Chorro more times than I can count—at least three times per year (even Christmas)—which is in keeping with our philosophy that camping close to home has its advantages. It takes us a whopping fifteen minutes to drive from our house in Cayucos to our campsite.

El Chorro surprised us. We had assumed that the loop of exposed campsites we saw from the highway was all there was to camping at El Chorro. Wrong! There are two more loops of campsites hidden from view, Chumash Loop and Romauldo Loop. In both loops you’ll find full hook-ups, lots of shade trees, privacy and many sites with gorgeous views of the morros

We’ve gotten to know and appreciate so many aspects of this hidden little gem that we chose it for our combined family reunion location. (My next article is about campgrounds as venues for family reunions). El Chorro Park rated a 4/5 on my reunion-ometer because of the hookups, nearby hotels for non-campers, easy access, affordability and the myriad things to do—something for everyone.

Nature lovers: The San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden offers wonderful displays of Mediterranean plants.

Golfers: Dairy Creek Golf Course is next door—nine holes, driving range, and featuring the new Toptracer  high-tech driving range. There’s a little ‘backdoor’ path to the golf course just past the campground restrooms.

Kids: They’ll enjoy the playground and climbing structure across from the softball fields as well as the fun children’s garden at the Botanical Garden. They can bike the looping camp roads but may not be within eyesight the entire time. Little golfers can join you at Dairy Creek.

Thrill seekers: Gladiator Paintball Park is right across Highway 1

Dogs: The prettiest dog park I’ve ever visited is the El Chorro Dog Park. It’s huge, shaded by mature trees and has picnic tables, benches and a BBQ area. Even restrooms! There are two water troughs that Chase (our golden retriever) thinks were put there just for her. Besides the dog park, you can also walk your dog on the golf course when it’s not open, or down the road past the dog park, even in the Botanical Garden. Beware of our ubiquitous ticks. We’ve also had the resident gaggle of turkeys run through our campsite and get Chase activated.  And I swear, those rascally ground squirrels thumb their little whiskered noses and taunt her. Helps her sleep at night and dream of the hunt.

Hikers/walkers: A semi-secret and pretty memorial garden sits behind Romauldo Loop. And a short trail by campsite Chumash #13 (watch for protruding poison oak) takes you to a lovely bridge crossing the creek to the day-use, dog park, Botanical Garden, playground, ball fields and hiking trails. You can walk the golf course before and after hours and enjoy peaceful sunrises and sunsets. Or climb up to the Eagle from the trailhead by the dog park.

Shoppers: A quick 10-minute drive in either direction will take you west to Morro Bay or east to San Luis Obispo. There you’ll find great shopping as well as dining and movies. For antiques, the two places to go are Morro Bay and Cayucos.

Beach lovers: A quick 10-minute car ride will get you to kayaking, sailing, surfing and sunbathing in Morro Bay.

Wine, whiskey and beer fans: Your biggest decision will be which direction to go—west to wine bars, and taprooms in Morro Bay, or 10 minutes drive east to wineries, distilleries and brewpubs around San Luis Obispo. Poor you. You can always alternate.

Foodies: Give yourself a break from camp food. Just steps away, The Siren El Chorro is a fabulous restaurant located at the clubhouse at Dairy Creek. It has one of those menus where you just can’t decide—everything sounds so delicious, and it is! They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner. It has a full bar, live music and an outdoor patio where you can take your dog. Try their Cubana sandwich or Surf and Turf Salad! If the name sounds familiar, that’s because it’s run by the same folks as The Siren in Morro Bay.

Camping: There are 61 campsites (43 full hookup sites with water, electricity and sewer, and 18 primitive sites with water spigots nearby. No dump station but you can dump at Morro Bay State Park ($10 credit card only). The asphalt pads (gravel in Bishop) are level to moderate sloped. Maximum RV length is 40’ but not all sites can accommodate that length. You’ll find twelve pull-thru sites but only the two in Romauldo have hook-ups. When making reservations, pay attention to the maximum lengths allowed in each site. They’re accurate, and you absolutely don’t want to be sticking out into the narrow camp road. A single restroom building serves the entire camp with clean bathrooms and nice hot showers ($1 in quarters). Cell reception in camp is generally 2 bars on Verizon. Maximum people/cars per site is the usual 8 and 2 respectively.

Noise: The campground tends to be fairly quiet, even when full. Some evenings you might hear the crack of a bat and cheering from the softball fields during adult softball season, or muted gunfire and troop drills at Camp San Luis across the highway. Occasionally you faintly hear the public shooting range if the breeze is blowing from the west. There’s always road noise in Bishop Loop from highway traffic on that concrete section of pavement, like the clackity-clack of a steam train.

Reservations: Go to www.slocountyparks.com or call SLO County Parks at 805-781-5930, Option 4. You can make reservations two days prior or up to a year in advance. New 2023 fees per night: Primitive sites $25-$31; Hookup sites $40-$45; Dog fee $3.50; Extra car $13; Reservation fee $10. Discount for California Distinguished Veteran Passholders. I consider these fees very reasonable for such a lovely campground with so much to offer (yes, I’m now an El Chorro convert and likely its biggest fan). Kudos to County Parks for providing this beautiful, well-maintained regional park right in our own backyard.

Campsite Ratings: Husband Garth and I have walked the entire campground and rated each campsite so that I’ll know which ones we want most when I’m making reservations—and which ones we want to avoid. If you’d like a copy of my rating sheet for El Chorro, please send me an email from my contact page and let me know you want the El Chorro rating map. I will never sell your email! I'd also love to hear if you have any information to share about El Chorro or any other campground.

Bringing El Chorro to your attention is a bit like sharing a list of good babysitters. But I’m lucky to live on the Central Coast where there are plenty of wonderful campgrounds. So I won’t be selfish—I’ll just be happy to see you in camp. And Chase will give you a full, golden retriever greeting!